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Tag Archives: letters

Banned! — Letters Concerning the English Nation

26 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

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Alexander Pope, Amsterdam, Bastille, British, Drake Stillman, England, English, Enlightenment, France, Francis Bacon, French, French Parliament, Galileo, Isaac Newton, Italian, John Locke, John Lockman, John Milton, Jonathan Swift, letters, London, Pennsylvania, Quakers, rare books, Roman Catholic Church, tail pieces, University of Toronto, vignettes, Voltaire, William Bowyer, William Penn, William Shakespeare


“The great Freedom with which Mr. de Voltaire delivers himself in his various Observations, cannot give him any Apprehensions of their being less favourably receiv’d upon that Account, by a judicious People who abhor flattery. The English are pleas’d to have their Faults pointed out to them, because this shews at the same Time, that the Writer is able to distinguish their merit.”

Letters Concerning the English Nation…
Voltaire (1694-1778)
London: Printed for C. Davis…and A. Lyon…, 1733
First edition
PQ2086 L4 E5 1733

Voltaire (nee François-Marie Arouet) fled to England after arguing with powerful French political figures. During his exile, from 1726 to 1728, he learned English, reading the works of William Shakespeare, John Milton, Isaac Newton, and Francis Bacon; and met other British authors such as Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift. The British embraced Voltaire as a victim of France’s political discrimination.

In Letters, Voltaire, with the works of John Locke and Enlightenment authors as his basis, wrote a slur against the French government and the French Roman Catholic Church, calling for political and religious reform. Letters was translated from French into English by John Lockman from a manuscript prepared by Voltaire.

Voltaire wrote about Isaac Newton and his theories in four of the letters. He told the story of the falling apple as the impetus for Newton’s theorem of the law of gravity, the first time this anecdote was told in print.


“…as he was walking one Day in his Garden, and saw some Fruits fall from a Tree, he fell into a profound Meditation on that Gravity, the Cause of which has so long been sought, but in vain, by all the Philosophers, whilst the Vulgar think there is nothing mysterious in it. He said to himself, that from what height soever, in our Hemisphre, those Bodies might descend…Why may not this Power which causes heavy Bodies to descend, and is the same without any sensible Diminution at the remostest Distance from the Center of the Earth, or on the Summits of the highest Mountains; Why, said Sir Isaac, may not this power extend as high as the Moon?”

Voltaire also wrote about William Penn and the founding of Pennsylvania as a haven for Quakers.


About this time arose the illustrious William Pen, who establish’d the power of the Quakers in America, and would have made them appear venerable in the eyes of the Europeans, were it possible for mankind to respect virtue, when reveal’d in a ridiculous light…Pen set sail for his new dominions with two ships freighted with Quakers, who follow’d his fortune. The country was then call’d Pensilvania from William Pen, who there founded Philadelphia, now the most flourishing city in that country.”

Letters was published in French in Amsterdam in 1734. It was immediately condemned by the French Parliament. Copies that made it into France were confiscated and burned. A warrant was issued for Voltaire’s arrest. The printer was imprisoned in the Bastille. At the same time, it was a bestseller in England, going through several more editions during the eighteenth century.

It is likely that this English edition was printed by William Bowyer (1699-1777), as the ornaments (the title vignette and tail-pieces) are those used in other of his imprints.

Rare Books copy has the bookplate of Drake Stillman (1910-1993), an emeritus professor of the history of science at the University of Toronto. He published many translations of the works of Galileo and other sixteenth century Italian scientists.

Recommended reading:
Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography
Stillman Drake
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978
QB36 G2 D69, L1

Telescopes, Tides, and Tactics: A Galilean Dialogue about The Starry Messenger and Systems of the World
Stillman Drake
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983
QB41 G178 D7 1983, L1

Galileo: Pioneer Scientist
Stillman Drake
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990
QB36 G23 D67 1990, L1

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Rare Books Goes to Leiden!

13 Wednesday Sep 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Publication, Recommended Reading

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amulet, Arabic, Auburn University, Brill, condolence, Fayoum, ḥadīth, history, Islam, J. Willard Marriott Library, Khaled Younes, Leiden, Leiden University, letters, Matt Malczycki, papyrology, papyrus, prayer, Quranic, rare books, Sobhi Bouderbala, Special Collections, Sylvie Denoix, The University of Utah, University of Sadat City

ArabicPapyrologyCover
New Frontiers of Arabic Papyrology: Arabic and Multilingual Texts from Early Islam, edited by Sobhi Bouderbala, Sylvie Denoix, and Matt Malczycki, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2017

Papers presented at the fifth conference of the International Society for Arabic Papyrology (ISAP), held in Tunisia in 2012.

The cover of this volume features P.Utah.Ar.inv.342 from the Arabic Papyrus, Parchment, and Paper Collection, Rare Books, Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah. The piece is a Quranic amulet on papyrus.

Two of the ten papers discuss pieces from our collection:

“Arabic Letters of Condolence on Papryrus” by Khaled Younes

Papyrus338r
second/eighth century
prob. Fayoum

‘Indeed we belong to God and indeed to Him we will return.’

In this letter, the sender writes to console the addressee on the death of two men.

Khaled Younes received his PhD from Leiden University in 2013. He is a lecturer of Islamic history and civilization at the University of Sadat City.


“A Comparison of P. Utah. Ar. inv. 205 to the Canonical Hadith Collections: The Written Raw Material of Early Hadith Study” by Matt Malczycki

 

Papyrus205rPapyrus205v

second/eighth century

‘When you sit after the two prostrations you say the profession of faith, being very careful not to add anything to it or leave anything out until you finish your profession of faith. When you finish, say what you wish. Verily, the good words are great!’

Instructions for prayer.

Matt Malczycki received his PhD from The University of Utah in 2006. He is associate professor in the Department of History at Auburn University.

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Book of the week — M. Tullii Ciceronis Orationum…

12 Tuesday Jan 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Tags

Aldine Press, Cicero, edition, enemy, fools, government, Greek, Kennneth Lawrence Ott Collection, Latin, letters, Marcus Tullius Cicero, murderer, nation, Okanangan Count Museum, orations, Paoli Manutii, plague, scholar, soul, traitor, treason, Venetiis, victims, Washington

PA6279-A2-1554-v.1-titlePA6279-A2-1554-v.1-pg1PA6279-A2-1554-v.1-Oration1

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague.”

M. TULLII CICERONIS ORATIONUM PARS I.[-III] CUM…
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE)
Venetiis : Apud Paulum Manutium, Aldi filium, MDLIII…etc. (1554-1559)
PA6279 A2 1554

Paoli Manutii led his father’s famous Aldine Press from a concentration on ancient Greek texts, his father’s love, to a concentration on classical Latin texts, his own love. In particular, Paoli maintained a life-long passion for Cicero. He restored the reputation of the Aldine Press by publishing scholarly editions of Cicero’s letters and orations. Much of the correcting and editing was his own. He continued with his work on Cicero by adding commentary. He published his first edition of Cicero’s work in 1540, adding another edition in 1547. This is the first complete edition of Cicero’s orations, published in three volumes. From the Kenneth Lieurance Ott Collection donated to the Okanangan County Museum, Washington.

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